A curious case of … Deflection and prejudice

T.O. Molefe, City Press

Who would have thought the day would come when a minister in an ANC-led government would read from the opposition DA hymn book of the pathologies of black culture – and an old, seemingly discarded edition at that?

Well, that’s exactly what happened when Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu this week promised that no person younger than 40 would receive a free house during her time in charge of human settlements.

South Africa's War on Women

T.O. Molefe, The New York Times

CAPE TOWN — Two years ago, when Jyoti Pandey, a 23-year-old Indian physiotherapy intern, was gang-raped and fatally beaten by six men on a bus in New Delhi, there was a moment of soul searching among South Africans.

We knew such brutal acts are commonplace here, yet could not recall the last time we reacted with anywhere near comparable outrage. The sad truth is that many of us had been hardened by the daily news reports of violence committed by men against women and the perfunctory moments the government officially sets aside to reflect on them. The overwhelming visceral response from Indians shook those of us who heard about it from our stupor.

Marikana: Executed with extreme prejudice

T.O. Molefe, City Press

After the guns fell silent that afternoon in Marikana two years ago, the incomprehensible happened.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) used the doctrine of common purpose to charge the 270 surviving miners in police custody with the murders of their 34 dead colleagues.

The common purpose doctrine holds all parties involved in a crime responsible for its consequences.

Race Bound

T.O. Molefe, The Con

Racial ideology, oppression and the battle over entrance to the new South African university

The University of Cape Town’s “new” admissions policy appears to be not only imperfect, it also looks incomplete. It generates a racial profile of admission offers similar to the old model, but it does so using a conceptually muddy pretext and might still exclude “disadvantaged” black applicants in favour of similarly capable white applicants who’ve performed only marginally better at school. I reviewed the parts of the policy that are public and tried to make sense of how a policy that seems to be a move in the right direction came to be an overwrought capitulation to the pressure from politicians and the dangerous lobbyists for race blindness. I also looked at the broader social implications.

Language policy in South Africa and the unfounded fears of a Zulu hegemony

by T.O. Molefe, Africa is a Country 

Given South Africa’s stated commitment to multilingualism, you might not think that a requirement from one of the country’s universities that its students learn an indigenous African language would raise much alarm. Yet alarm has nonetheless been the reaction from a few unexpected quarters to the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s announcement that all first-year students enrolled from next near onwards will be required to develop “some level” of isiZulu proficiency by the time they graduate.